The Neutral Zone (episode)
The Enterprise-D encounters a ship carrying 20th century Humans in suspended animation, whom they revive on the way to a Neutral Zone confrontation. (Season finale) Summary The Enterprise encounters a ship carrying cyrogenically-frozen Humans from the late 20th century during a critical mission into the Romulan Neutral Zone to solve a mystery concerning a string of destroyed Federation outposts. As the episode opens, Captain Picard is attending an emergency conference on Starbase 718, and the bridge crew is observing an ancient space capsule, apparently from Earth. Data requests permission to board the vehicle while waiting for the captain's return. Data and Worf beam aboard the capsule and examine the equipment. Worf is momentarily baffled by a door that must be manually opened. Upon entering the vessel's main chamber, the two discover a number of refrigeration pods. The seals on two of them have been broken, and the environment corrupted; these two contain decomposed human remains. Three pods contain frozen humans. When Data is ordered back to the ''Enterprise''-D in preparation for Picard's return, he requests that the frozen people also be brought aboard, as the capsule is seriously damaged. Upon Picard's return, he immediately orders La Forge to lay in a course that will take them into the Neutral Zone. He explains to the chief officers that several outposts have been destroyed, and the Enterprise is being sent as the only Federation vessel to investigate. It is assumed that Romulans are behind the problems, but since the Federation has had no contact with them in a number of years, the situation is very uncertain. Riker and Worf both advise the captain to be prepared to fight, but he is determined to wait and see what the situation truly is before deciding on a course of action. Meanwhile, Dr. Crusher has thawed and revived the frozen humans. All three had been cryonically frozen in the late twentieth century. Dr. Crusher awakens the woman, who promptly faints at the sight of Worf. The humans are Claire Raymond, Ralph Offenhouse, and L.Q. "Sonny" Clemonds. As the ship continues toward the Neutral Zone, Riker explains to them what has happened, and they attempt to make sense of their new situation. Offenhouse is very concerned about his financial investments and repeatedly demands to speak to the captain so he can get in touch with his attorney or bank. When the Enterprise arrives at the edge of the Neutral Zone, they find that a number of outposts have been completely obliterated. There is no evidence of conventional weapons or attack. Meanwhile, Offenhouse decides that he must take matters into his own hands and heads out to the look for the captain. Picard orders the ship to yellow alert, though Riker and Worf urge him to go to red alert and battle stations. A Romulan vessel appears in front of the Enterprise, inside Federation territory, but Picard refuses to fire on it as it de-cloaks. Offenhouse appears on the bridge just at this moment and is ordered off by Picard, but the security officers are distracted by the Romulans and fail to remove him. The Romulan ship responds to the Enterprise hailing them, and the Romulans reveal that their outposts have been destroyed in the same manner as the Federation's. Picard asks who is responsible, and the Romulans fall silent. Offenhouse interjects, "They haven't got a clue! They're hoping you know, but they're too arrogant to ask." Picard proposes an agreement of cooperation as both sides investigate the disappearance of the outposts, and the Romulans agree before heading back toward their own territory. Offenhouse is finally removed from the bridge. Troi helps Claire locate one of her living descendants, and Picard makes arrangements for the three humans to be returned to Earth on the [[USS Charleston|USS Charleston]]. Log Entries *First officer's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) *Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2364 Memorable Quotes "Welcome to the 24th century." : - Picard, to Claire Raymond "What do you invest in?" "We invest in ourselves." : - Ralph Offenhouse and Picard "This is the worst-run ship I have ever been on. You should take lessons from the QE2. Now that's an efficient operation." : - Ralph Offenhouse, to Picard "These are Romulans, they are without honor." : - Worf Background Information *This is the season finale for season one. *This episode marks the first time a specific year is mentioned in relation to the setting of a Star Trek series, when Data cites the current year as 2364. *This is the first episode to hint at the existence of the Borg, whose involvement would later be confirmed in "Q Who". It was originally intended to continue the events depicted in "Conspiracy". *At the time of this episode it had been 53 years, 7 months and 18 days since the Federation last had contact with the Romulans. *The episode also marked the first appearance of the ''D'deridex''-class warbird, which is seen numerous times throughout the series as well as in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. *Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) does not appear in this episode (see main character non-appearances). *When Deanna Troi is conferring with Claire Raymond concerning her family tree during this episode, the console on Troi's desk displays a list of the six actors who had starred as The Doctor in Doctor Who at the time of the episode's production as well as television characters Mary Richards, Lou Grant, Kermit T. Frog and Miss Piggy (among others). Additionally, a ''Constitution''-class starship model is seen near Claire in the room; however, the nacelles of the model are attached perpendicular to their standard positions. *When Deanna Troi is conferring with Claire Raymond concerning her family tree during the episode, the console on Troi's desk displays a list of some of the actors of TNG but with the last name Raymond. *In the early DC TNG six-issue miniseries, a comment written by one of the editors mentioned that a script had been written which would have shown the Enterprise recovering a derelict sleeper ship only to find Harry Mudd on board. While Harry would have recognized the Enterprise, no one on board recognized Harry. This script was meant to be put in production but the actor Roger C. Carmel passed away before the episode could be made. Purportedly that script was rewritten into what became "The Neutral Zone." Production history * Second revised final draft script: * Premiere airdate: Video and DVD releases *Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 13, . *UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 1.8, . *As part of the TNG Season 1 DVD collection. Links and References Guest Stars * Gracie Harrison as Claire Raymond * Peter Mark Richman as Ralph Offenhouse * Leon Rippy as L.Q. "Sonny" Clemonds * Marc Alaimo as Tebok * Anthony James as Thei * Peter Lauritson as Thomas Raymond (uncredited) * Guy Vardaman as Darien Wallace (uncredited) References 1939; 1957; 1959; 1986; 1989; 1994; 2016; 2040; 2311; 2364; Atlantic Ocean; Arloff IX; Arloff system; cloaking device; ''Birdseye'', SS; Borg; Braves; cardiomyopathy; ''Charleston'', USS; cryonics; cryonics satellite; ''D'deridex''-class; Earth; embolism; emphysema; executive key; guitar; Geneva; Indianapolis; Kansas City; Kazis binary system; Khitomer; low-mileage pit woofie; martini; money; New Jersey; pattern replicaton; QE-2; Raymond, Donald; Raymond, Edward; Raymond, Tommy; Romulan; Romulan Neutral Zone; Romulan philosophy; Romulan Star Empire; Science Station Delta-05; Secaucus; Sector 3-0; Sector 3-1; Starbase 39-Sierra; Starbase 718; Tarod IX; Tarod system; Tebok's Warbird; television; Tomed; Tomed Incident; United Federation of Planets; United States of America; Vulcans; Wall Street Journal; Yankees Supplemental references Colin Baker; Tom Baker; Peter Davidson; Kermit T. Frog; Louis Grant; William Hartnell; Margaret Houlihan; Frances Mulcahey; Kellye Nakahara; Walter O'Reilley; Jon Pertwee; Miss Piggy; Sherman Potter; Brent Spiner Raymond; Cheryl Gates Raymond; Darrell Oja Raymond; Denise Raymond; Jonathan Frakes Raymond; LeVar Burton Raymond; Louise Cara Raymond; Marina Sirtis Raymond; Mary Catherine Raymond; Wil Wesley Raymond; Mary Richards; Patrick Troughton; Charles Winchester The year 2364 is given by Data on screen in "The Neutral Zone", and is the first specific on screen date given in Star Trek. This year served as the fixed reference around which subsequent timeline data was placed. Prior to this, fandom had generally placed Star Trek: The Next Generation in the early 24th century. Media * TNG Season 1 DVD |next= }} Neutral Zone, The de:Die neutrale Zone es:The Neutral Zone fr:The Neutral Zone nl:The Neutral Zone